This article has nothing to do with hooves, except for the fact that the Budweiser Clydesdales have big, heavy, famous ones.
By tonight, everyone will have seen this commercial, but here's a preview of what will surely make a delightful culture clash during ESPN's broadcast later today of the USA-Belgium match as the next level of FIFA World Cup competition begins for Team USA in Brazil.
It's no secret that the Hoof Blog is known almost as widely for launching unusual horse-related videos and commercials as for hoof-related stories. You saw the Budweiser Clydesdale ad here first and now you're seeing the new--and slightly weird--Citroen commercial.
When you saw the new Budweiser Clydesdale commercial, was your first thought, "Why on earth would anyone ask a Clydesdale to canter on pavement?" Mine was. This actor was brave to stand in front of the horse as he approached. Notice the horse is barefoot. (photo courtesy of KC LaPierre)
You read it here first. But you're not going to read much. But here's something to talk about during half-time in the Super Bowl: the hoof connection to the Big Game. (You knew there'd be one!)
This year's Budweiser Clydesdale commercial is quite a story. "Brotherhood" shares the bond of a trainer and his favorite horse.
Spoiler alert!
Have you been chewing your nails (or hooves)? Are you worried you might be running to the refrigerator or bathroom on Sunday night when the annual Budweiser Clydesdale commercial comes on the Super Bowl?
Fear no more, here it is: (go ahead, watch it in full screen mode)
There is just no question that the marketing and advertising surrounding the Super Bowl is more interesting than the game itself usually turns out to be. If you needed proof of that, look no farther than into the eyes of the Clydesdale foal in this photo.
This year is the 80th Anniversary of the Budweiser Clydesdales hitch, so you know that there was something special in the pipeline. We just didn't know what, until today!
This video makes you wonder who created that prototype for the NTRA! No additional information is available...so far although it looks sort of like a plastic-coated Easy. It looks like these commercials may be destined to air on national television.
They come in Zenyatta's silks colors!
Call 978 281 3222 to place your order; ships immediately and you'll use it often!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
If you can't be at a St Patrick's Day parade today, you can feel the spirit of the day with a few great Guinness commercials. It might be safer, too.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Whatever you do today, there's a chance you might run into some of the products or culture spawned by the Guinness Brewery of Dublin, Ireland.
I have a feeling this will be my favorite commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday. This is just a preview. Quigley is a French bulldog and he reminds me of an ad we ran in Hoofcare + Lameness years ago. Mustad's ad agency, Scott Inc. of Milwaukee, put red high-top Keds on a horse. It is possibly my all-time favorite hoof ad.
So far, I haven't seen any Super Bowl commercials with horses. But rumor is that the Budweiser Clydesdales are scheduled to have a brand new commercial, as has been the custom for many years.
If my sources are correct, this one from the Budweiser Super Bowl commercial archives should be a clue to what you'll see in the Clydesdale commercial this year:
Has the Super Bowl gone to the dogs? It seems like most of the ads either feature dogs or are about cars. Volkswagen probably wins there, by combining cars and dogs in the same commercials. They are sticking with the Star Wars theme introduced last year, but even the galactic empire has gone to the dogs this year.
Audi has a terrific spoof on vampires, which you might not get if you aren't a Twilight fan. Do you have a favorite that you've seen previewed? Are you as interested in the commercials as you are in the game? Share your favorites!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
What, you're not in the holiday spirit? The Hoof Blog has a cure for that. Just sit down and watch my collection of favorite Christmas television commercials. All have horses featured in them.
If you don't have the ho-ho-ho's by the time you're finished watching these, try some egg nog and watch again.
1. First, a montage of Irish Christmas commercials, past and present, including scenes from ads for Guinness, Land Rover, Kerrygold and some other companies I don't recognize (sorry):
2. More from Ireland: I love the Guinness ad, so let's look at that one in its entirety:
3. Here's the classic Christmas commercial, American-style: the 1987 Budweiser Vermont Christmas ad, shot in my old hometown of South Woodstock:
4. I don't remember when the Budweiser Clydesdales took credit for turning on the Christmas lights, but I'm happy they did it in this commercial:
5. Just for the record, Miller High Life beat Budweiser to Vermont; this one is from 1981 and still stands the test of time. What a classic:
6. No snowman is safe when there are horses around. This Wells Fargo commercial makes that point very clearly!
Go ahead, use the little envelope symbol at the bottom of this post to email a link to this video collection and make it your Christmas greeting, too! Or use the symbols to share this on Facebook and Twitter. Spread the joy to the world!
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Surfers wait for that one wave. Guinness drinkers wait for their pints (they take a long time to draw). And around here, we wait a long time for summer to come around again, but so it has arrived today. To celebrate, here's a little bit of classic video, courtesy of our friends at Guinness.
This commercial is perennially called the best television commercial ever made. It's labeled "iconic". I've watched it enough times over the years, to be sure, but I still can't really tell you what's going on. But I also think that might be the point.
It's summer. President Obama tells us it's even "recovery summer". So let's just sit back and take this minute's entertainment at face value. Don't worry, Captain Ahab, we're living the dream.
I hope you agree that this video is a fitting salute to the first day of summer...and one of the most creative uses of horses in a commercial, ever!
By the way, the inspiration for this commercial was the famous children's book illustrator Water Crane's painting, Neptune's Horses. Neptune, of course, was the ruler of the sea and in his second identity, as Neptune Equester, he served as the patron saint of horses in Roman mythology. He was supposed to protect all the horses in the chariot races. I've always loved this painting.
If you have a slow connection and you're having trouble seeing any horses in the Guinness commercial, try toggling the stop and play button, and leave the screen alone for a while to see if perhaps YouTube needs to load. You can also click on the lower right of the YouTube screen on the blog and the video will open in YouTube and it might play at a better resolution. This video was made in the last century so it is not HD.
21 June 2010 | The First Day of Summer | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com
Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
by Fran Jurga | 1 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog/Hoofcare & Lameness Journal
It looks like the racing segment of the new Budweiser Clydesdale ad was filmed on Polytrack or ProRide or some sort of artificial surface, perhaps at Del Mar or Santa Anita racetracks in California. For years, they pulled the starting gate off and onto the track for each race at Santa Anita.
As promised, here are some special clips from Budweiser, showing just a few highlights of the three or possibly four Budweiser Clydesdales ads aired on tonight's Super Bowl. I've seen two of them so far, in the first half of the game.
Here's a clip from the "generations" commercial, honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Budweiser Clydesdales. It was filmed partly right on the streets of New York City. The narrator sounds like my friend James Ferrie, who shoes Clydesdales in Ayr, Scotland. Could it be?
And how about that lovestruck Clydesdale? How on earth, though, did they film that Clydesdale jumping over the canyon! That Clyde really had good form! And what a Hollywood ending!
And don't forget the Dalmatian:
Did you ever wonder how the commercials are made? Here's a video clip that goes behind the scenes for the racetrack segments, and you'll meet director Joe Pytka:
These commercials are the highlights of the Super Bowl each year for many people, thanks to our friends, human and equine, at
It looks like the racing segment of the new Budweiser Clydesdale ad was filmed on Polytrack or ProRide or some sort of artificial surface, perhaps at Del Mar or Santa Anita racetracks in California. For years, they pulled the starting gate off and onto the track for each race at Santa Anita.
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.